Monday, October 10, 2011

The Pagan Roots of Homosexuality

First order of business: definition of terms.

What is paganism?

"I would suggest that the essence of paganism can be usefully described as monism, the belief that one principle defines and unites all of reality. Thus all is one, humanity is one divine reality, and all religions are ultimately many expressions of the one monistic truth. At the heart of this theoretical religious paganism lies a particular and powerful mystical experience of oneness. Indeed, it is often claimed in today’s syncretistic age that at the core of all religions, beyond and behind their distinctive doctrines, is the same mystical encounter." (Peter Jones, Androgyny: The Pagan Sexual Ideal, JETS 43/3 [September 2000], 446)

What is the historical association of paganism and homosexuality?

"Throughout time and across space, the pagan cultus consistently, though not exclusively, holds out as its sexual representative the emasculated, androgynous priest." (ibid., 448)

However, "this is not to suggest some scarlet, conspiratorial thread connecting the dots. The connection is logical, theological, and inevitable. A monistic view of existence will work itself out in all the domains of human life, and especially in the domain of sexuality" (ibid., 457).

What is the religious significance between paganism and homosexuality?

"Therefore homosexuals are—though some unconsciously or only partially—true pagan monists, who have succeeded in translating spiritual theory into physical reality." (ibid., 462)

"The physico-theological mechanism seems to function as follows: androgynous persons, whether homosexual or bi-sexual, are able to express within themselves both sexual roles and identities. In the sex act they engage both as male and female, equally as penetrator and penetrated, the 'hard' and the 'soft'—and thus taste in some form or other both physical and spiritual androgyny." (ibid., 463)

Thank you, UT. While I respect your Christianity, as a homosexual I have been implicitly exploring what I now understand to be monism. We all try to understand life, the universe and everything, regardless of what faith is placed in our path by fate, the Lord or whomever. I've recently become convinced that there are many things in this world that religion has done that have undermined the very nature of faith and Man's ability to be an integral, positive part of living in this World. This is something Man has always attempted to enjoy, and subsets of Man have sought to control. But I digress.

What you've successfully done for me today, UT, is to intelligently define the relationship with paganism and homosexuality, and it's a relationship that sounds very positive to me, much as it might not be positive to those who wish to align themselves with the Christian religion. Sin is sin, in the Christian religion, no differentiation.

I'm not on a religious quest, and I'm not seeking an imaginary friend. Frankly, I'm not even seeking paganism. But given it's more forgiving, all encompassing embrace, it certainly sounds more positive for more people, even though I suspect any theology is going to have at it's core some pretty wild guesses and superstitions concocted in times of lesser knowledge, times when Man and his civilization was less astute.

In jest, more or less, I suggest that Bill and Ted had it. One commandment: Be Excellent to Each Other. I'll wager if real, those two would be pagans.